In the Ashes of Innistrad
by tmd126
Summary: Eldritch Moon one shot, After the end. Don't own magic or anything, I swear


**Alright, so it's been forever since I've posted anything, and this is my first venture into Magic fanfiction. I've been a fan forever, as my icon would likely suggest, and with the new set... I don't see innistrad making it out of it. The plane is doomed. This is just a small one shot that I would like to see happen, but I doubt it will. Reviews are welcome, and appreciated.**

Walking through the ashes of Innistrad, Nahiri laughed.

At last, her revenge, for thousands of years of imprisonment, for her world's death, for every betrayal, every harsh word, was at hand. The precious gem of Sorin Markov was dead at her hand. Justice had been dealt. Her justice, Emrakul, she was still here, finishing off the world, its last few survivors at least. She was in the distance, colossal, unknowable, and massive. The dark plane had not lasted months under the onslaught. It had shattered under the weight of the Titan, her machinations, the destruction of Sorin's cursed angel, the crafting of the cryptoliths, months of work in the shadows, finally, it was finished. And here she was, alive.

The silence was broken by a crunching sound behind her, a footfall. She whirled, lifting a blade forged from the stone of this dying world, to face with one of the monsters of it. A werewolf, taller than she, feral… but somehow, not consumed by the tendrils of corruption that had warped the rest of the wildlife. A low growl sounds, and then, its visage shifts, changing into a human woman, older looking, but strong, a scar marring her face. That face… cold, burning hatred the likes of which made the Doom of innistrad shudder a little inside.

"I was told it was you who did this." She speaks, her voice calm as the grave.

Nahiri replies with a nod. "You are a planeswalker?"

"I am." The werewolf begins walking again, circling her. "This world is my home. Was, my home."

"You are here to kill me, then?" she had accepted it was a possibility. Her vengeance would anger many; innocents would have to be sacrificed to pay the blood toll.

In response, the woman vanishes, and the wolf returns, charging in at her. She raises her blade and then has to dodge to the side as she was beset with uncanny speed. The wolf turns, and lunges again, knocking her sword aside, it topples to the ground with a clang. She grabs the Kor by her throat.

She shifts again, becoming human, but still strong enough to keep the hold. "You have destroyed my home, my world… I have lost everything because of you. I have seen thousands die because of your actions! This world, all of its promise, all the good it held, is gone. Because of you!"

"I am only repaying my debts." Nahiri spits out, glaring at the woman. Could she not understand?

"A Debt? What have any of these people done to you to deserve this? To deserve to die like animals!" she has begun shouting now, her voice and face losing their calm, replaced with anger.

"Do not talk to me of innocents! My world was ruined by Sorin, I am returning the favor." The Harbinger finally breaks her hold, dropping back onto her heels and summoning her sword back to her hand. She charges, but again is bested. She was not a fighter, she was a builder, and unfamiliar with this new side of planeswalking, and this woman clearly was a veteran at both.

"And so you compound his crime with your own? You return the wrong with another, thinking that it will somehow restore the ghosts of your world to add another's to them. You have become just as evil as this Sorin."

"So what if a few have to die? This world was vile before, I was doing them a favor by ending it!"

"I have seen parents tear their children apart! I have seen children explode in tendrils, choking their parents as they scream! A world has died, screaming. Because. Of. You. Thousands dead, do you have no remorse, no pity? Are you so above them that they have ceased to matter to you? Humans, people with hopes and dreams and fears have been wiped out by your petty vengeance."

"Petty? You have no id-" The werewolf smashes her fist into the face of the lithomancer, cutting her off, the unfamiliar sensation of pain rippling through her body.

"No matter what he did, to you and your world, you are in the wrong now. You caused this. Look around you! You have killed a world. Congratulations, Murderer. Everything is gone. Everyone is gone! Do you feel better now?"

Nahiri… stopped. She looked again, the ruins of a civilization… of people. She… hadn't thought In those terms in so long. She had been concerned with the fate of planes, mortal lives… they came and went. She had failed in what she wanted to protect, in what she wanted to preserve… and she had wanted someone else to feel that same anguish, that same pain. Well… here it was. She… had butchered a world.

The realization hit her like a blow. No longer was this about vengeance; no longer was… it even about Sorin. These were… she had killed them. Everything this woman said was true. All her joy, all her satisfaction vanished, leaving her feeling sick and empty. She looks up at the woman, seeing her in a new light. The lines of grief across her face, the pain held just beneath the surface. This… this is not what she had wanted. This was not her goal.

"You see it…" she murmurs, quietly, a stark contrast from the shouting of moments before. She turns away.

"I…" Nahiri couldn't find the words. She couldn't seem to make sense of it…

"I hope you live a long life. I hope that you die of old age, knowing every minute of it what you have done. What you have accomplished. I will not kill you… death is far too merciful for you." And with that… Nahiri was alone with the dead. The ashes of a hundred thousand. All of them, because of her.

Lying, alone, amid the ruin of one hundred thousand dead…

Nahiri wept.


End file.
